Early Years playing outside

Weekly Highlights: New Arrivals, Shape Exploration and Literacy Adventures

Young child gently holding a fluffy yellow chick in a classroom setup with toy shelves nearby.

PRE-RECEPTION

On arriving at school on Monday, the children were excited to see that four of the eggs in our incubator had hatched. The chickens are all different colours, and each child has their favourite. The four chicks have multiple names because each class has named them something different.  

It was lovely to see some of you at the Maths Mastery workshop on Wednesday. Please do, however, ask if you have any further questions.  

Meanwhile, we are busy practising our class assembly. Any pupils that do not attend school on Monday or Tuesday are welcome to attend on the 18th and 19th. We will be performing for the school on Monday and to you on the Tuesday morning.  

MATHS

In Maths, the children have revisited 2D shapes. As a result, they are beginning to use mathematical language to describe them and compare their similarities and differences. Looking ahead, next week we will look at 3D shapes.   

PHONICS

In Phonics, we have learnt the phoneme (sound) ‘y’. To pronounce ‘y’, Smile, tongue to the top of your mouth; say y without opening your mouth y. 

RECEPTION

We have had another busy and exciting week in Reception, with lots of wonderful learning taking place.

Literacy

Following on from our learning about the butterfly life cycle last week, we explored the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We began by getting to know the story really well, before creating a class story map together. Afterwards, the children took turns using the story map to help them retell the story in their own words.

Phonics

This week in Phonics, we have moved on to Phase 4. The children have been learning the tricky words were, here, little and says.

We have also been focusing on blending and reading longer words with consonant clusters, such as CCVCC, CCCVC and CCCVCC words (for example: string, strand, squelch). The children have also been reading longer sentences and practising writing dictated sentences, such as “The string was strong and held me up.”

When children completed their sentences successfully, they were encouraged to use a word from the lesson in a sentence of their own.

Secret Reader

Our secret reader sessions have been a lovely addition this term. Parents and carers are invited to come into class to read a story to the children. You can either bring a favourite book from home or we can provide one for you. These sessions take place on Fridays at 3.00pm, and we would love for as many of you as possible to take part.

Maths

This week we started a new topic called ‘How Many Now?’, which focuses on addition and subtraction. To explore these concepts, the children have been using practical resources to explore different ways of solving these problems.

In the meantime, we have also been continuing to practise number bonds to 10 every day to build confidence and fluency.

Find out more about Early Years

Early Years Woodlands Farm Trip

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EVENTS AT FARRINGTONS SCHOOL

Prep School Expanding Early Years Provision

We are delighted to share that we will be expanding our provision from September 2026 to welcome children from the age of 2.5 and from September 2027 to age 2.

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